K2 script: guitar strummer

[SimuAndy]

It occured to me that it would be very possible to build a guitar strummer using the script language inside of Kontakt 2...

some method of "setting up" the strings (be it easy-fingered chords with some notation as to root formation and fret position, or explicit here-are-the-notes-on-the-strings) for the chord, and then triggering the appropriate sounds with note_on/off events at varying times, velocities, and expression.

Does this seem do-able?

[fizbin]

I thought about this too and I think it is. It will never sound like a strummed guitar however, because single note samples have a different attack than the per-string attack of a strummed guitar. Strumming a guitar is more a gentle sweep across the strings. Playing a single note is more of an assault on that one string. Artificially strumming (by way of script) several individual notes will probably sound a bit harsh usually, depending on the sampling of the individual notes. If one were to sample light attacks with perhaps a thinner pick, of an acoustic guitar, I think it would result in a better strummable sample set.

fizbin

[SimuAndy]

I'm more likely to use RealGuitar than I am to finish this kind of script, I was approaching it more as a proof-of-concept than as a real ability. (My day job is as a computer game programmer, by weekends I'm a church musician, by nights I'm a geek. :) )

[Rich Pell]

The scripting inthe Akkord guitar that comes this the K2 Lib. works like this. You can change the velocity ,pattern ,rhythm and distance between strums as well as pitch and harmony.. As a guitarist by trade its not so much realistic but artificially interesting ;) Rich

[fizbin]

I think Andy is referring to making a strummer that would "strum" single note samples. The akkord guitar uses sampled strums (and lots of em), so it is going to sound better than the alternative. Depending on what you're trying to do the Akkord can sound great, although I have little use for it since I too would be more inclined to just pick up my D-18 and have a whack at it.

fizbin

[Rich Pell]

I think Andy is referring to making a strummer that would "strum" single note samples. The akkord guitar uses sampled strums (and lots of em), so it is going to sound better than the alternative. Depending on what you're trying to do the Akkord can sound great, although I have little use for it since I too would be more inclined to just pick up my D-18 and have a whack at it.

fizbin
Ohh ... You mean take single note samples and harmonize into chords so you can strum? I think 'Pick' = single notes.. 'strum' = chords :)
What year is your Martin fizbin? I use a 2001 OM-28v thats awsome for recording..Rich

[SimuAndy]

I'm much more likely to try my hand at recording my own guitar playing, but my ability to consistently perform a track is not as high as my computers' capabilities. :)

There's a shareware product called MAMBO ($15) that generates strums in various patterns and tunings, and is pretty darn good. Its controls include velocity, aftertouch, expression, each per-string varying so that your "deep strum" can be lighter toward the bottom strings, or you can do the wrist-flick flourish across the high 4 strings, etc. I used it briefly with Sibelius's guitar samples (Kontakt Gold for Sibelius edition), it wasn't half bad.

Anyway, I was thinking of taking my most used features of RealGuitar and trying my hand at emulating it with guitar samples triggered from within K2.

[fizbin]

Ohh ... You mean take single note samples and harmonize into chords so you can strum? I think 'Pick' = single notes.. 'strum' = chords :)
What year is your Martin fizbin? I use a 2001 OM-28v thats awsome for recording..Rich

It's a 1976 Martin D-18.